Page 22 - Tibetan Thangka Painting Methodsand Mat, Jackson

It was important for the cloth and inner frame to surface of the thangka. The single-frame methods were
be at least two inches or so smaller in length and breadth quicker and simpler, but with them there was more
than the outer stretcher because the cloth stretched danger that the strings (which had to be small enough to
during priming, and if it was not given enough space it be sewn with a large needle) would break during priming
would stretch until it reached the outer edge. When or painting. However, anyone of these methods would
this happened it was often impossible to tighten the give good results if carefully applied.
cloth sufficiently and the "canvas" thus became slack
Sizing the Cloth
and prone to warping. Nevertheless, in some cases the
artist could still do something to correct this problem; To prepare the cloth as a suitable painting surface some
we once observed an artist who inserted small wedges of of our informants from Central Tibet performed three
wood into the joints of the stretcher. The wedges pushed operations: sizing the fabric, applying the gesso, and
apart the boards, slightly expanding the size of the polishing the gesso. Sizing, the first step, coated and
stretcher and making just enough extra room for the stiffened the cloth. It was quick and easy: the task
cloth support to be drawn taut. mainly consisted of preparing a solution of warm hide
glue and applying that to both sides of the cloth with
Alternatives to the Inner Frame ofSticks the help of a large brush or wadded-up rag. After the
cloth became saturated and any excess had been wiped
The use of an inner frame of sticks, although a away, the artist tightened the cord that connected the
widespread custom, was not a necessity, and many cloth to the stretcher, and then set the canvas aside to
painters found ways to do without it. One alternative dry. Many artists, however, did not apply size to the
method entailed the stitching of a heavy cord all along cloth in a separate operation. Instead they began by
the scored and folded-back edge of the cloth, much as applying a coat of gesso. 6
the inner frame of twigs was sewn in place. This was
the method of Wangdrak, the artist from Shekar Dzong. Size (ko spyin)
When preparing the rope frame around the cloth, he left In Tibet the adhesive used for sizing consisted
a special loop at each corner that could be pulled to mainly of gelatin. Tibetan artists could produce this
tighten the cloth during priming. Then he attached the gelatin or size by boiling clean, dry skin or leather in
cloth with its rope frame to the outer wooden stretcher water. Prolonged heating at about boiling point caused
in the same manner as with the inner frame of wooden the protein collagen, one of the main constituents of
twigs. Wangdrak said that he had picked up this method the skin, to change into gelatin as the skin itself slowly
from some painters from Amdo with whom he had dissolved. When the transformation was complete, the
worked in India. He adopted it, he said, because it artists strained the liquid to remove any solid residue.
saved him the trouble of having to find sticks and yet Then, when it had cooled and had begun to set, they
still gave good results. poured it out into a clean pan so that it' would congeal
An inner frame of rope was especially suitable into a thin flat sheet.
for the painting of oversized thangkas and many painters Once the gelatin size had set and cooled
used it for this purpose. Unlike the cloth supports with completely, the artists often cut it into strips. Then, to
sticks for their inner frames, those with rope frames speed up the drying, they either hung the strips over a
could be rolled at the top and bottom, and lashed rope in a warm, dry place or laid them out on a piece of
tightly at the sides. This allowed an artist to execute cloth until the gelatin was hard and dry. In this state
very tall paintings in a room with a low ceiling, and even chunks of size could be stored indefinitely.
in rooms with high ceilings it did away with the need for The painters of Tibet preferred to use the purest
scaffolding or ladders. But to begin with such large size available, which was usually a gelatin made from
canvases had to be stretched on an oversized stretcher. skins alone. Such size of the best quality - which was
Then they could be rolled as necessary on one or both also the "glue" for mixing paints - was known as
ends and then tied within a smaller stretcher. "deity-glue" (lha spyin), and it was made from skins that
Some artists omitted the inner frame of rope were free from fat, hairs and other impurities?
or sticks entirely, and merely scored and turned back Nowadays most of the Tibetan artists livin& in India and
the edges of the cloth for reinforcement. Then with Nepal do not use the traditional sizes made from yak or
needle and a strong doubled string they attached the cow skins. Instead, they obtain their size and binder
cloth within the outer stretcher by a series of regularly from ready-made glues that are available in the local
spaced looping stitches. As with the other methods, bazaars. In Nepal one common type is said to be pre-
these artists first secured the end of the string to a pared from water buffalo skins. These glues are
corner of the stretcher before making the first stitch sometimes of low quality, and in that case have to be
and once the cloth was loosely sewn in place they warmed, skimmed and filtered. It is difficult to say
increased the tension of the cloth by going around the whether these common adhesives of India and Nepal
stretcher again, tightening the string loop by loop. are actually size or glue since glue, properly speaking,
The advantage of using an inner frame of twigs is partly made up of gelatin but also contains other
or rope was that much larger projects could be under- proteins and organic materials, whereas size is a more
taken with less risk of losing the tension on the primed or less pure gelatin produced from skins.

18 TIlE PREPARATION OF THE PAINTED SURFACE